America is allergic to tyranny and for good reason. There's a history of federal overreach that's more than well-documented (Waco comes to mind), and combined with the ethos that was forged in the birth of this nation, a general distrust of government persists.

Sometimes this comes into conflict with the desire to preserve law and order.

It doesn't matter what your politics are. Most people would acknowledge that there exists a line that, if crossed, they would wholeheartedly endorse the deployment of federal agents domestically.

What we're debating here is exactly where that line is, because it cannot be that this line doesn't exist (which only anarchists would argue).

Surely there are conditions under which you would justify federal action.

I mean, just think about how you would respond if Obama sent a bunch of federal officers to arrest armed, right-wing protesters who have committed acts of violence?

When the hunt for the Boston marathon bomber was in full swing, federal agents were deployed.

Obama also sent federal agents against the Clive Bundy bunch for grazing his cattle on federal land in protest.

Bill Clinton sent the feds after violent protestors when the OKC building was bombed.

As long as they're protecting federal property or enforcing federal crimes, it appears to be well-established precedent.

Now we can debate about whether or not the conditions in Portland warranted deployment of federal agents, or whether the agents conducted themselves morally,

but the press is acting as if the deployment itself is something new, something uniquely fascist about what the current administration is doing. It's not.

Personally, I'm uncomfortable with fed agents whisking people away, even just to ask questions because this skirts initial

due process and can be abused easily. But I just don't recall the press being as agitated about it when it occurred under different administrations.

Also, the media has been successfully portraying Portland as “a city under siege from federal troops.”

So long as the general public has the impression that BORTAC (Border Patrol Tactical Unit) is a "secret police force" that's pulling people off the street into unmarked cars, not reading them their rights, and holding suspects without charging them with a crime,

then people are going to see the protesters' side of the argument.

Because this is exactly what fascism looks like.

It's remarkable to me that what's happening in Portland is largely a Twitter-only news event that we're essentially seeing everything through shitty cell phone

videos from brave, unaffiliated journalists and activists. These short clips usually lack context which presents a whole slate of other issues.

Nevertheless, I want to commend some of these journalists who have braved the chaos: @mtracey & @NancyRomm have been exemplary.

To the right, Portland is a failed state that has descended into violence and chaos. To the left, Portland has become the new grounds on which the federal government has revealed its fascist, authoritarian soul.

What's clear: we can't rely on legacy news media anymore.